The 76ers beat the Raptors 131-111 in the first round of the playoffs, and the second-year student Maxi who efficiently scored 38 points became the focus of everyone's attention, but many people ignored that James Harden, who had a poor feel, also had a good performance, and Harden, who got 22+5+14 data, completed a career data to surpass Bob Kushi and equal Michael Jordan!
As a second-year No. 21 show, Maxi's performance in this game was truly amazing, hitting 14 of 21 shots, including 5 of 8 three-pointers, 5 free throws, scoring 38 points, being the only player in the game to score more than 26 points, and the game-high plus-minus of +20 also confirmed his great contribution to the 76ers' victory. However, behind The Maxie outbreak, we cannot ignore that Harden has repeatedly passed wonderful passes for him, and is the hero behind the Maxie outbreak.
Harden's offensive performance of 6 of 17 from 40 minutes was equally bad compared to Embiid's offensive efficiency of 5 of 15 shooting, but he had 4-of-7 shooting from outside the three-point line, hit 6 of 7 free throws, got 22 points, 5 rebounds and 14 assists, had only 1 turnover without a foul, and the assist-to-turnover ratio reached a staggering 14.0! It is worth mentioning that in the playoffs in the past 10 seasons, only 6 people have delivered no less than 14 assists in a single game without more than 1 mistake.
This is already hardened NBA career in the playoffs with 20+ points and 10+ assists, in this data NBA history ranking officially completed the overtaking of Bob Kusi and "Smiling Swordsman" Thomas, and tied with the "god of basketball" Michael Jordan in NBA history 10th! Cush has the second most 8 assists title among all players in NBA history, and Jordan is the first person in NBA history in the minds of many people, and Harden is worthy of praise for this statistic on par with these historical superstars.
Harden is no longer the scoring machine that has averaged 30+ points per game for three consecutive seasons, and in the regular season this season, Harden averaged 22.0 points per game with only 41.0% shooting, which is the first time since the rookie season that Harden shot less than 43.5%. It was also the first time since Harden became a starter that he averaged less than 24.5 points per game in a single season; however, Harden's passing skills were still there, and harden averaged 10.3 assists per game in the regular season this season, and Harden once again proved his passing ability in the playoffs G1.
Whatever the reason, harden has transformed into an indisputable fact, and we can no longer hope that Harden will do a big job on the offensive end, but his passing can still provide a lot of help to the team, and it is still one of the core roles on the road of the 76ers to impact the championship. Without the pressure of the past, Harden's more efficient playoff performance at the 76ers is not entirely impossible.